Wednesday, November 19, 2014

As you may already know, my mother is dying of cancer. By the time it was detected this past May, it
was already in three areas of her body and she decided to forego treatment. My
sister had a premonition a short time later that Mom would NOT be around for
the Christmas holiday. About that same time, my daughter’s told me they really
wanted to go to “Grammy’s” for Thanksgiving. I told them that come hell or high
water, I’d make that happen for them.

With Thanksgiving now just a week away, my needing
time off work to travel, the car needing brakes, an oil change and gas, I’m
left to the goodwill of my brothers and sisters to make this trip happen for me
and my daughters. Also, the cold weather this week has caused my place of employment to close for two days, cutting my weekly pay in half.

If you can help in any way—monetarily, with a
gas card, offering to replace brake pads or provide an oil change—it would be
greatly appreciated and we would certainly pay it forward. I can send you a request through PayPal if you will contact me privately--doyle_cm@yahoo.com. Thank you.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

I've already been seeing ads for "Black Friday" like the ones that promise all the great holiday deals NOW! Nice try, Madison Ave. It's not enough that you have people camping out to get the best "doorbuster deals" of the season. It's also not enough that your Christmas displays go up in August, retail America. No, we need our best Black Friday deals and we need them in like October!!!

I just read an account of a couple of Best Buy patrons in Texas who claimed their spot on the sidewalk LAST WEDNESDAY!!! We're talking November 5th for deals that don't start for at least 21 days! Is anything really worth that sort of a wait? So you're first in line...to spend your hard-earned money on something that will probably be obsolete, or on clearance, by early next year. KUDOS, idiots!!!

The doorbuster deals you get on a flatscreen tv this week will go for that same price every day of the week in about 6-10 months. Mark my words! But you have to have it NOW! Why? Because Madison Avenue and the American consumeristic mindset told you that it is this year's must-have. Stupid sheep!

WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!

There is no reason to camp out for three weeks for ANYTHING! I camped out 10 hours in the cold, once, for Rush concert tickets. I was 15 and the Internet wasn't even someone's fantasy yet. Now, that I have to work hard for every penny I earn and I respect the value of a dollar, I don't HAVE to have anything right now, except a warm meal and a place to sleep. Those are the real must-haves.

All we like sheep...are led around by the nose by Wall Street, telling us we have to have MORE and we have to have it NOW! Buy. Consume. Rinse. Repeat!

It saddens me, really. The fall holidays are supposed to be a time for families, sharing good times, comfort foods and happy memories. How did it ever come to this? People planning their Thanksgiving meals or cutting them short based on the sale ads from places like Wal-Mart and Best Buy. It's a sad statement on American culture.

My fondest childhood memories are of visiting my great-aunt's house in Vincennes or spending Christmases at grandma's house in Princeton. There was no getting up in the wee hours to stand in line in the cold while local news cameras capture our shivering and the cold stare of consumerism in our eyes. There were no news stories on the day after Thanksgiving of people being stabbed or crushed to death at the local department store. I'm not simply pining for the "good old days" I'm just saying look where we've come. It's not a better place...at all.